Reviva Labs Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C Ester & DMAE Cream

I am sure that by now many of you know that my favorite places to shop for beauty related products are (in order of preference): a Texas based grocery store called HEB (great selection,very low price point and good promotions on top of everything), CVS (great place to stack coupons and gotta love their extra care bucks), Walgreens (clearance basket is any cheap girls' heaven) then Sephora (I need to get my Shiseido somewhere) and MAC(who can say no to limited edition packaging?)

What about Wholefood, Central Market and other natural grocers? No,thank you, who in the world (not me)wants to pay for over-priced, "organic" (because many of them are not) products that doesn't even work at the end? And may I complain about the "wholesome" lemon juice for a moment here? For five dollars, I might as well buy 20 fresh lemon from the "normal store for the masses", they taste the same and I get to keep the peels (where the pleasant aroma is from)anyway...

Well, if you think the same way as I do, I think we might be both wrong. Beside Gelato, fruit tarts and fresh soup, there are something else that's worth picking up on your trip...A night cream, a pretty affordable and efficient night cream.

I am talking about Reviva Labs Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C Ester and DMAE Cream *(what a mouthful), the night-time moisturizer designed to "treat past damage and fight the future one".Before I start the review, here is a little background story: The 38-year-old skincare line Reviva Labs is natural-oriented and has a simple packaging theme that doesn't look flimsy. The brand has a pretty extensive range of skincare products(as well as a makeup primer) and is usually found in health food stores. 

Ingredient list of the cream is kept relatively short and sweet.Instead of a long line of unfamiliar compounds that I don't even know how to read, the cream is full of vitamins (for the very first time I am actually familiar with more than half of the ingredients).Just like the Melot facial moisturizer I love and raved about, there is no thick, occlusive filler like petrolatum, mineral oil or dimenticone (there is, however, a simeticone, but the "-cone" is very far down the list and only seems to be an anti-foaming agent)in the cream and it's also animal-friendly, a factors that many of you care(But I don't).

As for one of the main ingredient DMAE, the English Wikipedia (at this moment) only mentioned briefly about its relation to Choline (a nutrient related to B-vitamins), that it's used to treat ADHD (I guess I could use some of it)and its effects (both positive and negative)on the life span of quail(?).In the other hand, the French Wikipedia mentioned that the easily-manufactured compound has shown to to firm skin when applied topically,especially in a long term.(exactly what I want to know).I guess the 35-hour work week is not bad at all huh? Since American spend a good chunk of their "long" work day on social networks anyway... (Just FYI, my math professor totally checks out Failblog during class.)

Now I am finally getting to the product itself. The Reviva Labs cream is scent-free (for many products labeled as "fragrance-free" tend to smell weird to me but this actually doesn't give off much scent at all), has a cream gel texture that feels non-greasy, moist and rather easy to blend.It smooths out pretty well on the face as well as around the delicate eye areas.The texture also seems quite rich, creamy and malleable that I don't need much to have my whole face covered. After using it other day for a month, it managed to keep my skin pretty well moisturized (I can feel it when I first used the cream), smooth and supple without causing any break out or irritation.

Overall: Anti-aging benefits aside (it's too hard/too early to tell),it's still a very well-formulated and effective moisturizer that gets the work done.I believe it should work well for people with normal to dry skin and it shouldn't be bad for people with oily skin either since the formula isn't greasy or pore-clogging.

To give you an idea about their selection and price range. Here are some spy cam pictures with camera phone quality (You can't blame me, the security camera is right above my head and they even had that annoying "Smile, you are on camera!" sign) that I took. (FYI,this is from the Natural Grocer that charges 5 for a tiny bottle of lemon juice.)

Glycolic Acid Facial Cleanser and Cream

Light Skin Peel, DMAC firming fluid, DMAE creams...

Brown Spot Night Cream and Facial Spray (I want to try that!)

Eye cream, Eye Gelee, Throat & Eye Cream and Spider Vein & Rosacea Day Cream

Toner and more moisturizers for day and night

It seems that beside health food stores, you can purchase the products from their webstore (but the price seems to be more expensive than in-store price) and some other health-food e-tailers. It's not everywhere like Aveeno or Neutrogena but it certainly isn't difficult to get a hold of.

* This is a sample sent by PR. Please feel free to check out the reviews on this at Google Products,as I am not the only one who raves about it.